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Why it was tough to be a Bills fan


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Went through 20 years of Offensive & Defensive Rankings below & see why it was such a rough patch.....  Based on ranking in yards.

 

  Offense Defense
2001 13 21
2002 11 15
2003 30 2
2004 25 2
2005 25 29
2006 30 18
2007 30 31
2008 25 14
2009 30 19
2010 25 24
2011 14 26
2012 19 22
2013 19 10
2014 26 4
2015 13 19
2016 16 19
2017 30 26
2018 29 2
2019 24 3
2020 4 10
Avg 21.9 15.8

 

On Defense Gregg Williams had the Bill #2 early in 2003/04 and were #4 in 2014 and McD had them #2 & #3 in 2018/19, but look at the Ofense.

 

24 or lower in 12 of 20 years.....  This year being the first as a top 10 unit.

 

No wonder I was so starved for 300 yards & some offense.

 

So enjoying this year....  Well it is now 2021.....😉

 

Edited by Billsfan1972
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So what’s your point...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

😂

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I am still skeptical and I truly don't want to be. I live in Chicago now and all of my associates are Bear's fans. They will come to work and say "I watched your Bills last night and they are for real" As much as I love hearing this, I am still scared!

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3 minutes ago, 4_kidd_4 said:

Let it go, let it go-oooooooo....

Well 19 years of watching putrid offense seems to have numbed a lot of you..... 😉

 

As stated there were plenty of Sundays I wonndered why I bothered watching the team.  

 

So happy many of you were okay with it.

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2 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

Well 19 years of watching putrid offense seems to have numbed a lot of you..... 😉

 

As stated there were plenty of Sundays I wonndered why I bothered watching the team.  

 

So happy many of you were okay with it.

 

Gregggg from 20 years ago ain’t got spit to do w these here new Bills. 

 

Live in the past, die in the past. Onward and upward. Eyes forward. <<insert your own preferred cliche here>>

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1 minute ago, SageAgainstTheMachine said:

30th in offense and 26th in defense in 2017 and we busted the drought.  Doesn't even make sense.  That will be McDermott's greatest accomplishment until we win the Super Bowl.  

Playing between the 20's that year.....  A # of blowouts and putrid performances....

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/2017.htm

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Just now, Billsfan1972 said:

Playing between the 20's that year.....  A # of blowouts and putrid performances....

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/2017.htm

 

Oh yeah, it was an ugly squad that never realistically even stood a chance in the first round.  But to get 9 wins was freaking blood from a stone.  That team could have gone 3-13 or worse based on the roster.

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Because the organization ran like a Mom and Pop shop with things:

 

Promote from Within

 

Scanned a list of Names

 

Cash to Cap

 

Dust-Settler Free Agents

 

Watch the tape and correct mistakes

 

Sleeping when Free Agency starts

 

Marketing guy as GM

 

70-year old scout as GM

 

80-year old former Coach as GM

 

Running an outdated Tampa-2 defense with 225 pound linebackers

 

Director of Scouting not living in Buffalo, allowed to keep living in Florida

 

No-Stone unturned Coaching search that resulted in 5-days in Arizona

 

Regionalization of the team by sticking games in Toronto.

 

 

The Bills weren’t even in the league after Donahoe. They stopped trying completely.

Edited by Straight Hucklebuck
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It's really just 'being a fan.'

 

We had an unusually long rough patch. But most teams have more rough patches than times of success.  Even the might Patriots went through horrible stretches prior to their run.

 

And as for the mighty Patriots, I wouldn't trade being a Bills fan w/ any younger fan of theirs.  Imagine growing up with nothing but winning. It's like being a trust-fund kid. How can you really appreciate it?

 

This season has been amazing for us - largely because of what we went through to get here. If we had drafted Allen (or a QB like him) right after Kelly and had this kind of season & team without a pause from those years, it wouldn't be nearly as satisfying.  

 

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And this is why some people don't get how important Offense(and QB) is.  

 

Why do you think there is hope in LAC, Cincy, Jax....  Because they have QB's (Trevor Lawrence on the way)?

 

Being as bad as the Bills were on Offense for 19 years bore out in their records.

 

McD I will concede has seen the light this year and it is all because he has opened the Offense that this is happening.  

 

 

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41 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

Well 19 years of watching putrid offense seems to have numbed a lot of you..... 😉

 

As stated there were plenty of Sundays I wonndered why I bothered watching the team.  

 

So happy many of you were okay with it.

 

I don't think anyone was/is OK with it.

 

It took 25yrs to find a franchise QB lots and lots of scrubs along the way.

 

Like someone said...Let it go...this team has a Great GM a Great Coach and a Franchise QB at last :)

14 minutes ago, Charles Romes said:

That Jauron year where we somehow won 7 games going 30 and 31 in the ratings was really amazing. 

.

Is that the year of the 6-3 Cleveland thriller? ;)

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46 minutes ago, Seasons1992 said:

 

Gregg

 

Douche bag

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48 minutes ago, SageAgainstTheMachine said:

30th in offense and 26th in defense in 2017 and we busted the drought.  Doesn't even make sense.  That will be McDermott's greatest accomplishment until we win the Super Bowl.  

 

Needed a 4th down miracle from a team with nothing to play for...you could kind of tell the tide was turning :)

Just now, Don Otreply said:

Douche bag

 

I take it you don't like the skunk stripe ;)

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56 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

Well 19 years of watching putrid offense seems to have numbed a lot of you..... 😉

 

As stated there were plenty of Sundays I wonndered why I bothered watching the team.  

 

So happy many of you were okay with it.

 

Some of us have lived through many more rough years with this francise than just through the last 20. Because others don't care to continually go off on tirades about the past does not mean they do not have every bit as much passion and desire for their team to do well as you do.

Edited by billsfan1959
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1 minute ago, JMF2006 said:

 

Needed a 4th down miracle from a team with nothing to play for...you could kind of tell the tide was turning :)

 

I take it you don't like the skunk stripe ;)

Well, he is what he is, and it ain’t something to be proud of.  I will spell it this way from now on “douche bagg” 😁

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1 hour ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Because the organization ran like a Mom and Pop shop with things:

 

Promote from Within

 

Scanned a list of Names

 

Cash to Cap

 

Dust-Settler Free Agents

 

Watch the tape and correct mistakes

 

Sleeping when Free Agency starts

 

Marketing guy as GM

 

70-year old scout as GM

 

80-year old former Coach as GM

 

Running an outdated Tampa-2 defense with 225 pound linebackers

 

Director of Scouting not living in Buffalo, allowed to keep living in Florida

 

No-Stone unturned Coaching search that resulted in 5-days in Arizona

 

Regionalization of the team by sticking games in Toronto.

 

 

The Bills weren’t even in the league after Donahoe. They stopped trying completely.

most of these tie straight back to Ralph Wilson when in his 80's and 90's.   Once he passed, the org joined the living of the NFL.  Love ya Ralph, but for your last 20 years, you ran a local rugby club in what became the world's largest sports league 

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39 minutes ago, billsfan1959 said:

 

Some of us have lived through many more rough years with this francise than just through the last 20. Because others don't care to continually go off on tirades about the past does not mean they do not have every bit as much passion and desire for their team to do well as you do.

I just went back 20 for the heck of it.  I was 9 in 1972 and remember OJ breaking through (and now I question cheering him like I did).....  

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18 minutes ago, MJS said:

I wonder how common it is to have both a top 10 offense and defense in the same year.

NE did it a # of times, however often a top Offensive team may rank in the bottom half Defense, because opponents are playing catch up.  Doesn't happen as much vice versa and often it is detrimental as a bad offense can't score when they need to. 

 

BTW NO won the SB when they were 1st Offense & 25th Defense.

 

Next year they were 4th in each & lost to 7-9 Seattle in WC game.....

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1 hour ago, JMF2006 said:

 

Needed a 4th down miracle from a team with nothing to play for...you could kind of tell the tide was turning :)

 

 

 

I'll never forget that day because I watched the Bills win and then immediately had to leave for a first date.  I told myself that I'd just enjoy myself and check the score later that night.  

 

Of course, being a Bills fan, I couldn't stop myself from excusing myself to go to the bathroom when I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket about 50 times.  I sat there on the toilet with my pants on for about 15 minutes answering texts, watching the play over and over and reading this board.  She must have thought I was taking a massive *****. 

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6 hours ago, Billsfan1972 said:

Went through 20 years of Offensive & Defensive Rankings below & see why it was such a rough patch.....  Based on ranking in yards.

 

24 or lower in 12 of 20 years.....  This year being the first as a top 10 unit.

 

No wonder I was so starved for 300 yards & some offense.

 

So enjoying this year....  Well it is now 2021.....😉

 

 

Yep, they certainly earned any indifference or hate they got.

 

It would have been very hard to endure without the tailgating...........in fact I don't know if the team would still be here if the fans didn't stick together and find a reason to keep showing up and fund all that bad football as the NFL simultaneously tried to crack down on all that pre-game celebrating. 

 

Now that they are winning I hope people put their money where there mouth is...........and I don't mean like when @eball does that.

 

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